Literary Dog Names

For fans of the (female) author A. S. ; makes an interesting alternative to Wyatt or the hotelish Hyatt.

Shows some promise via its connection to the growing interest in Ewan.

Samuel Johnson invented the name Rasselas for the title character of his novel, Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia. Rasselas is actually the son of the prince.

Most often spelled without the final "e"--unless you're a particular fan of writer Bret.

Attractive name associated both with a queenly character who meets a very grisly end in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus and popular teen fantasy novelist Tamora Pierce. Shakespearean puns in the name include amor for love and moor as the character was in love with a Moor, though any parent interested in the name should be aware of its tragic association.

The Alhambra, which means "red city," is in Granada, Spain. British writer Ali Smith used it for a character in her novel The Accidental.

The name of the protagonist of The Hunchback of Notre Dame does not translate well into real life. Quasimodo comes from the Latin phrase used in Christian texts, "Quasi modo geniti infantes", meaning "like just-born infants do".

Name of pastoral Vermont town and college sounds too stiff and starchy.

Pronounced GHEED, this surname of Nobel Prizewinning novelist Andre could make a smooth, sleek middle name choice.

Fringilla Vigo is a sorceress and villain in The Witcher series. Her name comes from a genus of singing finches.

Remarkable Pettibone was a self-important housekeeper in James Fenimore Cooper's The Pioneers. Such names were not uncommon in early America, with such choices as Remember and Experience showing up in the records along with Puritan virtue names such as Chastity and Patience.

Faunia is more often rendered as Fauna, who was a Roman goddess of fertility, women and healing. Faunia was the downtrodden yet loving heroine of Philip Roth's Human Stain. Faunia and Fauna have more gravitas than the doe-like Fawn.

Alabama is a hot southern place-name, picking up from Georgia and Savannah. This is not a geographical name come lately, though--there have been girls named Alabama dating back well over a century.

The mixed-race heroine of one of Gertrude Stein's Three Lives searches for knowledge and power.